Friday, July 25, 2008

OK I am in for the third round of themitten swap. Deb does a great job running this and it is a lot of fun

How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? At this point 41 years and I was basically self taughtWould you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced? AdvancedWhat are your favorite colors? Any you dislike? Not fond of pastels unless teamed with black or navy, everything else is fineDo you like Latvian type patterns? If so, what are your favorite patterns? I love them, but I have no favoritesDo you desire mittens for yourself, your "special someone else" or your child? Pour moiWhat is the measurement from your wrist to the tip of your longest finger? 7inchesWhat is the circumference of your hand at it's widest point?hmmm..again 7 inchesWhat other things do you enjoy knitting?all things, love fair isle, socks, am into laceWhat sort of needles do you enjoy working with? (straights vs circs, bamboo vs aluminum) harmony circulars, I have recently been doing doing two socks on two circsWhat’s one project you’ve not yet tried but are dying to make?hmmm..will have to thinkWhat’s one yarn you’ve not yet tried but are dying to work with? Again have to think, perhaps one of the Socks That Rock yarnsWhat other hobbies do you have? Do you spin? Sew? Garden? Cook? Bicycling, skiing, all crafts except spinning, weavingBesides yarn, do you collect anything? Eiffel towers, Mr Potato Heads, Antique glassWhat kind of goodies do you enjoy? Sweets? Salty? Anything you hate or are allergic to? Yes sweet saltyDo you have any kids? Pets? Two sons 24,18 Almost two dogs(8-5-8 will be two) Oliver Back lab and Phineas ShepradorWhat is your favorite part of Winter? Snow, snow, snugglingWhat is your least favorite part of Winter? Dirty snow and shoveling

Thursday, July 10, 2008

I am on vacation. generally we take a very involved summer vacation but with the acquisition of the house this year we are home. So I have given myself over to the house. The diningroom is almost done as you will see below and the bedroom is next to be unpacked. MANY boxes, probably 18-25 have been unpacked and the packing trash sits in a dozen bags waiting a ride to the dump.

The house continues to give us floral surprises

and the wisteria we cut back to a stump is determined to make a resurgence.

We seem to have a grassy covering most places but on closer inspection we actually have shamrocks!! I guess in this house full of predominantly Irish folk it is appropriate.The diningroom has a built in shelf area. Not big enough for anything but clutter...UNLESS...you have a collection of Fenton Burmese glassware. Then it all comes together doesn't it?When we married it was in a Church built by DH's grandfather. For our first anniversary he had a Fenton artist paint this lamp for me. The shade was pulled from the archives, no longer made, the image is of the Church.The china cabinet is displaying a minimum of what I have. I collect china, glass, etc...and have tried to show everything which leads to a cabinet asunder. I have decided to display minimum. No Belleek,Wedgewood,Mikasa,Fitz and Floyd, Pfatzlgraff,Peach Lustre, etc. They are safely packed in an area easy to access when I want to use them. What we have is a shelf of my Green vaseline glass, a shelf of our Royal Doulton china and a shelf of tea services. Interspersed is some of the Galway crystal and a few Swedish glass pieces(DH is Swedish and Scottish, I think Irish).That is some fenton that will need to wait til the parlor is done and then can be displayed. We have gone to Fenton twice...we have bought much online and a few pieces on our honeymoon.

I will post more later when the sun goes down and the sun stops reflecting off everything.AND I recived my first shipment from Claudia of Wollmeise reknown. Holy Moley!!!!! It is very grand.

(THE SUN IS DOWN AND FEW PICTURES ARE ADDED) I opened the package and it was as though I had come from the store. I LOVE the bag, one side has German/English knitting terms. Look at those colors!!! I want more!! I have two more coming and will continue to seek out more. I bought the Poison sight unseen!! I knew I would not be disappointed!! And I believe I have learned why Oliver has grown so quickly. I believe he is devouring DS2, Shamus, his owner.

Here are afew pics in the dark with the flash only. The darker of the two shows a bit of the carpet which I could take another pic of but I am tired. DH says I have done too much to the room. SO much it looks as though nothing were done. ????? OK he further explains saying it appears as though the house were just built(1900) and that is how the room has looked since day one. Such a nice compliment!

And what have the others been doing? DS1 is out having fun. Tomorrow is the last day of his first job. He has not been happy in it since day one and has found another job which starts Monday, the day after his 24th birthday! The new place seems to realize his potential as they have offered him much much more money. Ben is thrilled which of course makes me happy.

DH has been replacing the fence which came down in February when the tree came down, remember? He has taken parts from way way down the fence and moved them uo, It was the most cost effective means for a bit. Oliver has run out the yard and into the street a few times and we need the security of the fence.

Friday, July 04, 2008

OK knitting updates, first I guess the way to start would be to post all my yarn acquisitions since my last big post. You can see several Dream in Colors there, Malabrigo, Noro, Cascade Ecological Wool ,Chameleon Colorworks, NummaNumma,Trekking Hand Arts,Rio de la Plata,Kraemer Sterling Silk and Fanny's Fingering.

Some of these, A LOT of these, were purchased from Loopy Ewe A few from swaps and the very lovely Sterling and Black yarn was a gift fromNeedleD1who purchased it at Patternworks Michelle is a great young knitter, newlywed, terrific knitter with already very high end taste in yarns. She is the next generation and it makes me happy to know she is part of it. I have also acquired quite a few patterns, again mostly from Loopy Ewe

I will be making one of the Bee Patterns from DIC Baby,

as Sheri from the Loopy Ewe is having another DIC KAL, this one using Baby. I am still working on Rogue, hopefully as you can see from the above post, I have been busy. There are a few more patterns not pictured from Harmiarit,GoatLady, which will make it into this post by it's end. Dear GL discovered she had some duplicates and sent them along to me. Have I mentioned what a terrific interesting lady she is. She turned me on to two socks at once on two circs. Now this came in hand as I made TWO pairs of Monkey socks. I was in Monkey Sock Swap 4 and the first package I sent to my pal Melanie got lost in the mail. I had liked the colorway so much I had purchased two skeins and when the first set was done started a set for me. Worked out well and I can only hope somewhere someone is enjoying hand knit socks with knitting loot. Rebecca has been running the MSS since it's origin. Another terrific lady. Very beautiful blog to read. I received a very terrific package from my spoiler.

I, yes me, I managed on TWO occasions recently to be online when Claudia, dear sweet Claudia of Wollmeise posted new stock in her store. I, yes me, I ordered SIX skeins total...WOOT!!!! Now rumor has it Sheri will be getting some this month and I do have a credit on my account and if I happen to be online when the Wollmeise goes up, yes I will still try and obtain at least one skein. Then I will be at peace.

This is my ATENTI bag from Loopy Ewe, I love it and do imagine purchasing three more in the future.Speaking of swaps, I was also in the LoopyEwe 2 Swap on Ravelry . I had the good fortune of being gifted by Meghan, first time lace knitter. WOW, the scarf is the GUST pattern and the yarn is Dream in Color Baby in Nightwatch. It is quite glorious. It took me some time to be comfortable with people knitting me socks, to have someone knit lace for you is lump in your throat time. Meg also sent along a skein of Rio de la PLata, the same skein I had one of and lamented I didn't have another as I want to make a shawl. The colorway is sold out. I was amazed again at the intuition of knitters. Meg picked the exact colorway I needed!!! Also beautiful handcut stationary, sour cherry candies and cherry napkins as she lives in the cherry capitol of the world. She is Mom to two very young people and I so appreciate the time she took to spoil me.

I got to spoil, Janice, Jarlady, Sheri's very good friend. What a card! Janice is preparing to run a marathon to raise research money for lymphoma. Please do stop by her blog and contribute to such a worthy cause. I knit Eleanor Clark's Shetland triangle forJanice, from Shibui...what a terrific pattern.

I am planning on doing another from the emerald malbrigo lace yarn.

I have to stop here and get dressed for a wedding. I will add links and pictures and correct errors later this evening.

Please be safe.

I am also knitting up a baby sweater and hat from a Garnstudio pattern. A gentleman I work with and who has admired my knitting for some time, just welcomed his second daughter. I thought, OK NOW I will knit for you, LOL. The yarn is Gramercy from Lily Chin which I bought on sale at WEBS It is a lovely yarn to work with although the sweater is eating the yarn and I am hopeful there is enough. OK still updating but must patch a hole in the wall, the LAST wall in the dining room to be papered. the woodwork has already had two coats of paint. Will hopefully finish tomorrow.

I also made this beaded purse, pattern and kit from Halcyon Yarns,, but I didn't use the yarn or beads. It comes with a wool yarn which was more off white, I used a micro spun by Lion and glass beads. I actually strung the beaded handles. It was for the bride whose wedding I attended but alas I did not see the purse. It was met with some confusion, when gifted, as to the purpose.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Hello Friends....apologies for the lack of posting and emailing. No excuses...just apologies,

Hello dear Harmiarit, I have your emails and will reply from work tonight.

Our home has been in bloom in waves of varying colors since April.

The lilac grove was spectacular and now it is a very dense green haven for a family of bunnies who are hiding from the fox. First we feared the fox was a coyote but further investigation revealed it was indeed a gray fox. I am taken back to dear Bev's trials with her fox and livestock ....since we have only Oliver, for now the fox can roam at night.

The yard and the way back yard have both grassed in nicely and as luck would have it DS2 enjoys mowing them.

We have a new mower, actually we have never owned a mower before and with the land there is next year will bring a ride on for sure. He does a great job and it keeps him busy while he waits to hear about a job. The youth of today just can't find jobs, apply and wait and then never hear. It is sad. I won't go into my political views as the blog would get shut down. I did email our VP though, and received a form reply. Then a few weeks later a more personal reply from the correspondence secretary which means to me I am being monitored and tracked. Feel free, I am one of the few not getting a tax stimulus check, apparently I make enough money to share with the rest of the country. You're welcome.

We have been working on the dining room, here are some befores...

I am not sure why sponging was the way to go, or why there is a hole and large amounts of wax on the wall

or why when we took the old light down

to hang the new chandelier

we found another tin ceiling(4 inside) that has been covered with plaster.

The old light left quite a stain which is why we added the ceiling medallion. The light was centered to the room, we wanted the chandelier centered to the table, so it has been swagged. I like the medallion. It goes with the feeling of the house.

The wallpaper is browns and pineapples and I love it, the woodwork is caramelized onion and is a perfect match.

We are trying to bring most of the downstairs back to its Victorian farmhouse origins...so far I think we are doing a great job. The wallpaper for the dining with the newly painted woodwork( I would prefer not to paint but there is years of paint on the wood and the Victorian flair was to do painted wood to match the walls)certainly contributes to that feeling.. The back splash in the kitchen is at long last finished as well.

The dining room will be done next week and then the planning for the living room.

Oliver turned 6 months on June 28. We brought him home on March 15 at 20 pounds, he is now 70. We have been feeling very melancholy about him. We researched and thought we did well before buying him from the kennel we chose, seemed to have great rep. Ollie was scared and had kennel cough when we got him home, but we already had health insurance for him and had fallen in love with him so nursed him back to good health. He sleeps on a cooling mattress o n top of an orthopedic mattress in a very comfortable crate but has had free roam of the house for a few months now. Turns out the kennel is being petitioned to close and is being labelled a puppy mill. Makes me sick. We had planned to get three more dogs from them but will not. DS1 dog will come from a private local breeder and the others from rescue. Oliver has a great life now but is afraid of boxes...we think it has something to do with his beginnings. Oh well, we love him and he loves us and here he is in all his 6 months glory.

So there you have it. Tonight or tomorrow I will add a knitting update. TWO Monkey sock mailings, a Shetland Triangle shawl mailing, much yarn, an Atenti bag, a wedding bag(there is a family wedding tomorrow, the 4th of July, enough said on that subject),a baby sweater, progress on Rogue...so many plans....I am back.

OK I must make molten chocolate cupcakes for work tonight, then wedding tomorrow, work Saturday and then I am on vacation until July 17....woot!!

About Me

I am Knitting Knut, my two wonderful boys and dear husband will verify that. I have recently acquired a wonderful daughter in law who has been part of the family for a long time. Who also have gained another lovely young lady this year who will be here on a permanent basis. I am a long time knitter, passion renewed with the crazy blog world. I am in awe of the influx of new young knitters who design at the drop of a hat. All I can say is thank you WWW for allowing all us knuts to band together.
On Ravelry I am also KnittingKnut
Enjoy my blog, comment freely.
UPDATE: I now am blessed to have two wonderful daughters-in-law. They make my sons smile and that is all I ask of them. We now are blessed with a grandson. He is perfect, precious and my littlest love.